


Rattler

by prodigalsanyo



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Gen, sweet murder prince
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-14
Updated: 2019-11-14
Packaged: 2021-01-30 09:54:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21426301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prodigalsanyo/pseuds/prodigalsanyo
Summary: What do you do when your crush loses his mind in front of you?  Malcolm has a psychotic break, from Edrisa's POV.
Relationships: Malcolm Bright & Edrisa Tanaka
Comments: 2
Kudos: 41





	Rattler

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on tumblr as "Malcolm Went Batshit on Edrisa" in 3 parts. TBH, I'm not satisfied with how I wrote her but this might inspire someone to write a better Edrisa fic. ^_^ That's what's up.

They were in her office, reviewing the results of her autopsy.

“I’m inclined to rule this as suicide based on my examination,” Edrisa confirmed to Special Agent Bright. She shuffled her feet and adjusted her glasses while he leafed through the physical file, letting the findings speak for themselves.

While he flicked through annotated photos, Edrisa softened as she pondered the color of his eyes. She thought them light blue when they first met. In different lighting and within closer proximity inside her office, Malcolm’s eyes were edged with dark blue and almost green in the center, like beach glass that had survived furious storms. 

Despite his perpetual scruff, he had a lovely complexion. She bit her tongue as disappointment sank his shoulders and the shadows under his eyes deepened from the intense furrowing of his wide brows.

“Thank you, Edrisa. As always, you’ve done a wonderfully thorough work up,” Malcolm said. He closed the folder with a slap, took a deep breath, and placed the folder on her desk, hooking his lips into a pinched smile.

“Anytime, Malcolm. If I do note anything unusual, I know who I’m gonna call,” Edrisa said.

“Ghostbusters,” Malcolm said. 

Edrisa relaxed and showed him out of her office. He followed her along the hallway, one of his hands inside the pocket of his suit pants.

Edrisa had her hand on the exit door, but Malcolm wasn’t beside her. He was staring through the window of the hallway which displayed the exam room of the morgue. While the lights were on in the exam room, there was no autopsy in progress.

“Malcolm?” Edrisa called to him.

He did not demonstrate that he heard her calling to him or that he was aware of her existence at all. Malcolm staggered from where he stood, rumpling his jacket. His brow shined with sweat and he looked deathly white.

“Malcolm?!” Edrisa said, raising her voice.

“Who’s in the morgue?” Malcolm asked.

Edrisa peered inside and only saw the exam tables, bare and sanitized, prepped for occupancy. 

“No one’s in there unless they’ve got an invisibility cloak,” Edrisa said. “What are you seeing?”

Malcolm went to the double doors and pulled until the wood rattled.

“Hey, hey, Malcolm, you can’t go in there,” Edrisa said, her voice pitched higher as he startled her. She swallowed her dry throat and conscientiously deepened her tone. “Your pass doesn’t authorize you to be in the exam area.”

“He’s in THERE!! The man! How do you not see him when you’re so brilliant?!” Malcolm cried, features screwed up like a rabbit prepared to bolt, charging off a cliff’s edge if needed. Each of his hands clenched the door handles.

Edrisa reached inside the pockets of her lab coat, dismayed that she had left her cell phone charging in her office. She couldn’t leave him alone to alert security. There was a landline inside the mortuary’s exam area.

“Malcolm, can you stand back? I’ll swipe myself in and talk to the man.”

“NO! You mustn’t, Edrisa! He’ll take you outside and you’ll run but you won’t– won’t beat him.” Malcolm invaded her space, grabbing her forearms when she put her arms up defensively. 

Edrisa reacted as she always did in clear and present danger. She froze, paralyzed as Malcolm trapped her against the door. His fingers coiled like trembling vines around her petrified limbs. Malcolm leaned his cheek into her hair and whispered into her ear, “He’ll put you in his bag and– make me watch.”

“Malcolm, I- I’m scared,” Edrisa said, hating herself for not having the strength to break his hold on her or to punch him or to kick him in the balls. 

“I’ve got my knife,” Malcolm said, sending Edrisa careening towards her own panic attack. Edrisa’s shoulders shook as her throat locked up. She was hypnotized by the feral gleam in his eyes, sharp like splintered glass. His forehead was a shining, cracked mess. His glossy hair fell into his eyes but she could see the whites of his eyeballs, the red vessels beneath his irises, and his collapsed pupils.

Edrisa sucked in deep breaths through her nose and forced air through her mouth. She had fought for her passing grade during clinical from her preceptor in the worst of NY’s highly trafficked E.R.s in Brooklyn. She felt that fear in her gut, locking her up, and she knew that it was her enemy.

The same person who held her down had saved her in the past. Malcolm wasn’t the enemy. He was blinded by his torment.

“I don’t see the man in there,” Edrisa told Malcolm. She was scared to disagree with him, but he needed to hear the truth.

Tears dripped from Malcolm’s reddened eyes.

“But then again, my prescriptions are pretty bad,” Edrisa said. 

“He’s there. He’s always been there,” Malcolm said, quavering each word.

“Malcolm. Do you have your phone?” Edrisa asked.

“I do. I have it,” Malcolm answered.

“No one can open or close these doors without a badge,” Edrisa explained. “The man in the morgue is trapped in there. Do you understand? He’s not an employee; he’s not granted access.”

“The police never got him; that man has been killing girls all these years while my father was inside his box laughing at all of us,” Malcolm said.

“Malcolm, you can do something now. You see a baddie, you call police. You know that song, right? Bad boys, bad b-boys wh–” She was– her lips were shaking too bad for the words to come out right.

“Yeah, yes! Bad boys, whatchu gonna do? Whatchu gonna do when they come for you.” Malcolm added helpfully. “Can I call Gil?”

“Perfect! Call Gil! He’ll know just what to do.”

Edrisa squawked as Malcolm pulled her from the door and made her stand behind him. He assumed a defensive stance, shifting his weight deliberately. Edrisa had an iPhone X in her palms; it was dialing “Papa G.” 

“I’ll make sure the man in the morgue doesn’t get you,” Malcolm said.

Edrisa was grateful that she had coaxed Malcolm into releasing her. She waved off the other medical examiner who was coming in from his lunch break. Malcolm was too intent on what he saw to pay attention to the odd looks.

Edrisa swallowed down her tears and talked to Gil. 

“What did you do?” she heard over the line.

“Gil, it’s Edrisa, ME office. Agent Bright says there’s a man in the morgue,” Edrisa said loudly. She lowered her voice. “There isn’t. Can you come here and take the man to a treatment center or send someone here to escort him? Security will have him 302’d if you can’t.”

“You can expect me and Powell in 10. Can you get security?” Gil said, sounding like he was in a rush. Edrisa heard him snap out hasty orders.

“I don’t have my cell. Malcolm will watch the man in the morgue.” Edrisa had to suck in air through her nostrils and breathe out of her mouth.

Then Malcolm sank into the floor, curling into himself like a small dog. His leather shoes squealed on the linoleum. 

“Malcolm?! Malcolm!” Edrisa crouched near him and touched his head.

“What’s he doing, Edrisa?” Gil almost shouted.

“He’s… on the floor like an animal,” Edrisa said, knowing she sounded nuts.

Malcolm had his chin perched on the backs of his hands flattened against the tile. He raised his face at the sound of her voice and whined like a small dog. He nosed into her palm. Edrisa’s thumb rubbed his stubbled chin.

“Oh, Mal, what happened to you?” Edrisa murmured. She clutched her sides, falling onto the seat of her trousers on the buffed flooring. He butted his chin against her thigh, shaking all over. Edrisa soothed herself, patting his brown hair. He calmed under her soft, repetitive touches.

Dani and Gil found them on the floor, a semi-circle of Edrisa’s co-workers formed around them despite Edrisa’s entreaties for everyone not to crowd. She was too shocked to say goodbye as Gil got his arm around Malcolm, his hand on the nape of Malcolm’s neck.

Dani hauled Edrisa up to her feet. Edrisa yanked up her white coat and Dani cursed softly as they both saw the fingerprints bruised into Edrisa’s skin.

“Gil will take care of Malcolm, but we need to get you to a doctor, too, and get you checked out. I’ll take you there. You need me to call your mom, Edrisa?”

“No, don’t call my mom, Dani!! Not cool. I’ll go, I’ll go. You should help Malcolm; he needs you more.” Edrisa was insistent. “I’ll go straight home from the doctor’s and put on Crunchyroll and get into the red wine I’ve got stashed.”

“Very good, chicka. I’ll call you later. I’ll come over if you don’t pick up.” Dani meant it.

“Just come over, Dani. I’ll have food delivered. The usual?” Edrisa said, her mouth shaking into a watered down version of her chipper smile.

“Yeah. Save me a glass,” Dani instructed, leaving Edrisa to report to the office manager and slog through work incident procedures. She hugged Edrisa before she went and laid her soft hair against Edrisa’s neck. “You did good. I had to punch the fool’s lights out last time he got spooked.”

Edrisa watched Dani catch up to Gil. She didn’t expect to see Malcolm ever again, and hoped that she never would, if it meant he was getting help to exorcise his bogeyman.

* * *

“What the hell is that smell?” Dani asked, her nose wriggling, when she visited Edrisa's apartment.

“It’s medicine. Are you gonna dig in?” Edrisa asked, waving the take-out under Dani’s nose. 

Edrisa had lacquered her arms with tiger balm to fade the bruises which Malcolm had inflicted. 

She would have to wash her bedding more often to minimize the herbal oily odors, but Edrisa didn’t want additional questions when she scrubbed up at work. She was going to be fielding concerns and conversations for a solid week before she worked through her feelings.

Edrisa let Dani question her in between stir-fry.

“Did you report what happened today with your coordinator or HR?” Dani asked.

“I had to. I’m sorry Dani. I didn’t want to narc on our pal, but my office manager hounded me for Malcolm’s name.”

“Did you put down Bright or…?”

“I named him as Special Agent Bright,” Edrisa answered miserably. “It was the best I could do.”

“Good thinking,” Dani said.

“I can only imagine how much worse it would be if someone finds out about Malcolm and blabbed to the papers,” Edrisa said.

“You did so good today. They should pay you more,” Dani said.

“My work mates saw him lose it, I couldn’t contain the situation. He’s not going to be allowed on premise without police presence. That’s the better of the outcomes,” Edrisa said.

She pulled down her shirt sleeve. “I reported that I hit my arms while assisting Malcolm. That’s official. The only other person who could call me out is poor Malcolm.”

“Honey, that’s better than what he deserves,” Dani said. She put down her food, signaling that she was finished with her meal. 

“Why did you guys let Malcolm work your most disturbing cases, knowing that he was unstable?” Edrisa asked when she saw that Dani had her fill. She was too polite to spoil her friend’s meal with her own difficult questions. 

“If you yourself had to physically restrain him from being a danger to himself, why did you allow him free agency?” Edrisa demanded heatedly.

“That one time I punched Bright was when he got high. Remember Estime?” Dani asked. She had cried over that man. There was a lot of crying and carrying on over ice cream.

“The ice cream. I ate four Lactaids and I still had to go bathroom after,” Edrisa muttered.

“Light weight,” Dani teased.

Edrisa’s stomach hurt for worse reasons this time around. “Have you visited him? Your friend Estime?”

“I’ve seen him at SCI. He said that he wished that we had let Trini finish him,” Dani said bluntly. “He’s not gonna stop me from coming to him. Gil was on me about him, too.”

“Estime is bad news bears, Dani. You like him that much after he killed someone out of hatred? I don’t know about him,” Erisa said.

“Xavier, he saved me once. I see his face when I think about getting high and it stops me dead,” Dani answered. “I nearly destroyed myself. A little white boy on a bad trip is nothing to me. I didn’t feel it until Bright told me his face hurt.”

Dani’s eyes narrowed. “He said that he wouldn’t mind if I hit him again the morning after. That was probably a red flag that he was crazy off the drugs.”

Edrisa covered her face. “Oh, my God. You spent the night with Special Agent Bright. Why am I finding all this out now, Dani?”

“Nothing happened; I babysat his hyperactive ass. You and me haven’t hung out as much because of the extra traveling I’m doing to visit Estime. It figures that we hanging out cuz of Bright.”

“No, no, you’re a great friend, Dani. But you KNEW I was crushing hard on Special Agent Bright. Details, lady! This is an infraction of the girl code!” Edrisa whined.

“I told you about his serial killer father. I shouldn’t have but you knew his damage,” Dani reminded Edrisa.

“Point. Excellent point. I could’ve avoided the feelings,” Edrisa groaned. 

“You gotta acknowledge your own crazy, too,” Dani said.

Edrisa sucked in a breath, remembering to empty her lungs. “You’re right, you’re right. I didn’t know him at all. I still don’t.”

“And now…?” Dani was not going to let her slide.

“I like him. We got along so well. He was always put together, always had something nice to say to me, and he was fabulous,” Edrisa said.

“Say what you feel, china mami,” Dani said.

“But I’m so scared. He was scared, too. I couldn’t handle it if I see him break again,” Edrisa said. Her fingers absently wrapped around her arm, frozen in that moment.

She sniffled into her couch blanket. “I’m such a coward, Dani. I don’t want to see him because of what he could do. If I were a good friend, I would try to forget this, and check in on him. He would’ve taken a deadly snake bite for me.”

Dani let Edrisa curl up into her own despair. 

“That’s exactly where me and Estime are at,” Dani said. “I get it, I really get it, chicka. I’ve had rehab and therapy and time to get over myself and reach out.”

“You don’t have to see Malcolm again after he hurt you,” Dani said. “But can you forgive yourself for turning your back on your friend? The one time he couldn’t keep it together? Can you forget all the good he did you without asking nothing back?”

Edrisa could hear the tears in Dani’s semi-confession; her eyes were too blurred by her poor vision and crying. Her insides were torn by her fear, guilt, and growing sense of unfairness in a mad world.

“I don’t understand,” Edrisa said. “I’m not, like, anything to Malcolm. We weren’t that close.”

“Oh, honey. A man saves your life, you’re always gonna feel like you owe him. The good ones don’t take advantage,” Dani said.

“Estime never…?”

“He could’ve had me and I wouldn’t have known any better because I was that high,” Dani said, shrugging and shaking her head. She was so pretty and Edrisa’s opinion of Estime multiplied times 1000.

“He is a good one, oh wow,” Edrisa said, spinning as the world tilted on its axis. Her head tipped into her couch as her fingers smacked over her eyelids, her glasses raised up in the air. 

“Malcolm is, too,” Dani pointed out.

Edrisa got flashes of Malcolm’s eyes weathered like beach glass, the poisonous snake coiled on her thigh, and Malcolm at the end of a muzzy black tunnel of fear, beaming giddy relief.

“He’s not working any time soon, is he? In my professional opinion, I do not agree with anything less than a full year of sabbatical for Malcolm.” On this, Edrisa was firm. She didn’t care how many solved cases he pulled out of his butt.

“Gil made him put in two weeks’ notice,” Dani said. “He’s saving face. It’s a good day for the freaks in the streets.”

“But he is getting treatment for his episodes? Private care?” Edrisa inquired, impassioned.

“Yeah. He agreed to seek help,” Dani said. “Do you know what it took to make Malcolm Bright check himself before he wreck himself?”

“Did you hit him in his face again?” Edrisa asked, smiling a little when Dani smacked the armrest.

“Shut up, this is serious!”

“He heard me tell JT that you went to a doctor. He changed his tune damn quick,” Dani said.

“Dani, you can’t tell me that kind of crap!” Edrisa cried. “God, you make it sound like, like he likes me.”

“Me and him are tight, too. I’m being a friend,” Dani said remorselessly. “You’re a free woman, do what you want with it.”

Edrisa blinked into Dani's hard eyes.

“When you hear from him,” Edrisa shivered. “Tell him he can call me if he wants to talk.”

“Does he have your personal number?” Dani asked.

“… yeah. I work fast,” Edrisa confessed, coloring a deep pink when Dani snickered. She picked up her remote and raised up the volume to the melodrama streaming on her TV.

* * *

Malcolm called her eventually. “Edrisa, I want to apologize to you in person, outside of your job. I doubt I’d be welcome for a visit there.”

“I can treat you to dinner,” Edrisa said. “That’s better than dropping in at the coroner’s. The place is a little dead anyways.”

“Edrisa, you’re not buying me dinner. I’m the one that’s fucked up,” Malcolm chirped.

“It's OK, it's OK. We can forget the whole thing,” Edrisa said, pacing and waving her arm around as though he could see it over the phone. “Dinner’s not necessary.”

“I want to, Edrisa. I’ve wanted to say a few things to you,” sighed Malcolm. “It would help me out a lot when I see that you’re… you. Please say yes.”

His pleading stopped her in her tracks and her sneakers rooted to the scuffed floor.

“Anything for a friend,” Edrisa finally told him.

They both agreed to a time and a public meeting place. However, Malcolm neglected to say that he made reservations. Edrisa had shown up with her hair in stubby pig tails, burnt orange cargo pants, and a striped long sleeve. 

“You’re adorable but this is not going to fly in La Canard Bleu,” Malcolm told her. He hustled her to the shops.

What was meant to be a quick errand to grab a black dress morphed into a montage from a makeover TV special. Edrisa shouldn’t have been surprised; the man was groomed within an inch of his life and past sane people standards.

“If your dress is elastic in the middle, it doesn’t deserve you,” Malcolm tsked. “We’re going deeper into the petites.”

She was lovingly nudged away from the neutrals. “I’m buying. Don’t just go for what you’d normally pick. Edrisa, look at how many bright prints there are. Stay away from the large florals and you’re golden.”

Edrisa would’ve been irritated if she didn’t miss his face. He casually wiggled her pig tails in between her trying on different dresses in the changing room. She finally decided on a stiff white dress that had blue, magenta, and yellow colors splattered and flecked randomly.

“It’s like I squeezed a rainbow,” Edrisa said, running her hands along her hips.

“Oh, jackpot,” Edrisa said when her fingers dipped into pocket openings disguised by the seams.

“Awesome! Let’s take it to go,” Malcolm exclaimed. She felt like a million bucks based on his admiring expression hovering in the mirror.

Malcolm paid for the dress and a pair of flats; he grabbed the paper bag with her casual clothes and Keds inside and the receipt.

“Uh uh, no, I don’t think so,” said Malcolm when Edrisa sneaked a look at the total cost.

Malcolm wore thick, soft, gray wool with wood buttons. He had a smoky blue button up collared shirt half tucked into his creased trousers. She was caught off guard from how his skin glowed healthily from their candlelit dinner. He had clearly shaved this morning and it took the years off his face.

“How was the happy farm?” Edrisa said. That did not come out of her mouth in the way she had rehearsed to herself.

He laughed as he drew the table linen over his lap.

“Not as many padded cells as you’d expect. I counted,” Malcolm answered. “Picture a bed and breakfast booked to the max with singles who don’t wanna mingle.”

“I love BnBs. There’s a great nook in Stars Hollow. It’s unreal. They hired a bitchy Frenchman to put you in your place at check in,” Edrisa quipped. 

“I’ve passed through Stars Hollow once, after touring Yale. One traffic light. No Starbucks. Had to look for coffee in a hardware store. What is that,” Malcolm said. 

His smile was catching. Edrisa was happy to see him inside of his body.

“I missed you so much. You would’ve gotten a kick out of the mannequins in the Volkswagen van. Parked for days before the city impounded it. By then, pictures of it were tagged on the gram,” Edrisa said, alluding to an ongoing investigation.

“I was prohibited from reading or watching murder news. I haven’t heard about it,” Malcolm said. “What’s the problem with an overgrown art piece? Why get NYPD?”

“One of the mannequins was a dead woman posed and wearing 60s clothes that were carefully repaired. The mannequins and the murder victim were wearing monster masks like what you’d pick up at a Halloween Spirit pop-up shop,” Edrisa said. “The van was blue and green with tangerine orange flowers painted on. There was an empty box of dog biscuits found stored in the van.”

“You’re kidding.”

“I know, right?! I was like ‘Jinkies!’” Edrisa huffed, touching her glasses. “The investigator that replaced you is getting the job done, but he’s a stuffed shirt. Didn’t get the reference.”

Edrisa bit her tongue. “Is it OK for me to mention this stuff?”

“As long as my replacement knows that they’re looking for a primary killer and accomplices. It’s a scene that says ‘I killed your childhood.’ Someone’s chasing fame,” Malcolm said, licking his lips. “Don’t be surprised if in a few months you get another staged scene.”

“Ahead of the curve. This is hush hush,” Edrisa said. 

“Go on, was there a body or another doll?” Malcolm asked. His knuckles curled into his lips as he leaned to the side of his largely ignored plate.

“Telephone booth near the history museum had attached rabbit ear antenna mounted on tuna cans. Kids would stand on a stone bench, jump, hang onto the booth and stick gum on the tuna cans. The wad got pretty hefty before the killer struck again.” 

“Was the victim a man this time?” Malcolm guessed.

“Yes! The victim was in uniform ready to conquer Europe with his French army,” Edrisa said. “Poor guy was beheaded and a mannequin head swapped out. They painted a moustache onto the mannequin.”

“You’re dealing with a comedic artiste. Good looking, youthful if not younger than 45, and with access to impressionable 20 somethings.”

“He’s got style,” Edrisa agreed. She grimaced. “The decapitation was a hack job… the guillotine would’ve been a far, far better way to go.”

“Anyways, where’s my head?” Edrisa said, changing the topic. “We are having a fancy dinner. And thanks for the cocktail dress.”

He watched her cut her dinner into neat slivers of uniform thickness, her knife swift and exact through the cartilaginous bits. 

“Are you enjoying your food?” 

“Yes, of course. The chef did a magnificent job of it,” Edrisa said, inhaling her wine. “This is why I wanted the stretchy dress.”

“You’re not going to pop, silly,” Malcolm replied amusedly.

Edrisa dabbed at her mouth. “You’re going to piss off the kitchen. Yours is hardly touched. Did I put you off your dinner?”

“I’m not here for the food,” Malcolm answered, smiling when Edrisa coughed into her glass.

Edrisa made a noise in her throat, flush from drink. “Uh wh- what do you mean?”

“Tell me what happened when I lost control of myself,” Malcolm said. “What did I do to you?”

Her fingers covered her lower arms which were folded onto the table, her left hand lightly squeezing her right arm where he’d grabbed her the hardest. “You scared the fluff out of me.”

From under his lashes, Malcolm’s eyes raised from her hand to her hunched profile, the movement of his eyeballs visible from his dark lids. Edrisa crossed her ankles under the table when he stared at her, the intensity of his gaze making her mouth dry. She thought he would reach across the table and put his hands on her again.

“Dani says I grabbed you and shook you up. Your body language indicates that you didn’t mind my touch. You’re stroking the area where I hurt you, so that memory is pleasant to you.”

Malcolm smiled. “You're fine, Edrisa. What you’re feeling is extremely normal. It probably didn’t hurt until a couple days later. I’m flattered, truly. It’s too bad that I’m a crazy bastard.”

“What’s the point of you calling me out?” Edrisa asked, in a gush. She wasn’t mad, per say, but she was bothered. “You know I like you.”

“Nothing that anyone told me indicated the nature of what I said. What did you hear me say that scared you? You’re the only one who can tell me.”

“You really want to know? Just how broken you are," Edrisa said flatly.

“I think I have a good idea,” Malcolm said, dimples from his twisted smile.

“You saw a man who wasn’t there. You grabbed me, panicked, because I said I would talk to the man. I didn’t actually see him. It was a ploy for me to call help. You said that the man would put me in a bag if I went near him. That you-- that you had your knife,” Edrisa said. "You cried when I said that I didn't see him."

Edrisa removed her glasses, put them into her lovely dress with pockets, and pressed a relatively clean corner of the cloth napkin to her eyes. She hiccuped a short lived chuckle. "I called Gil, or should I say Papa G."

“Edrisa,” Malcolm uttered fondly. “Thank you for keeping my secrets. I’m grateful you haven’t told anyone else. I'm sorry that you heard me raving like a lunatic. I'm so, so sorry."

"Apology accepted," Edrisa said, the one line she was prepared to voice. "I only care about your mental health so you won't have to go through another episode."

"With a little luck, I shouldn't. I can't work without passing a psych eval," Malcolm complained. "I'm so sorry I did that to you. I would never, not in my right mind."

Edrisa held up her hand. "You've exceeded the max requirement of soulful apologies. No longer taking anymore submissions."

"I didn't say anything else?" Malcolm asked. He had that look again, his face tipped up, nose on the wind, keen to get himself turned around searching.

Edrisa nodded, hiding her face in the napkin.

"Thanks, Edrisa," Malcolm said. If he had a tail, it would've been wagging. He tucked his brown hair behind his ears. The motion reminded Edrisa of her own fingers petting the silken texture of his locks.

Edrisa's phone buzzed, breaking the poignant lull in their conversation. Edrisa hit the volume key, letting the call go straight to voicemail

"It's getting late. I have a CLE tomorrow morning," Edrisa said. "Thank you for dinner. Keep in touch?"

"Of course. I'm talking to many doctors, what's one more?" Malcolm joked.

Edrisa reached for the check and Malcolm put his hand over hers.

"Let me. Please," Malcolm said, almost begging.

"Okay, friend. I can get it the next time," Edrisa allowed.

He paid the check in big bills and waited outside with Edrisa to hail a taxi and get the door for her. Edrisa clutched the shopping bag as Malcolm wished her a good night.

Once the taxi door shut, Edrisa slipped on her striped shirt and pulled her phone out of her dress pockets.

"How did it go, kid?" 

"Hey Gil. We ate at a Michelin star restaurant and the duck was outstanding."

"And Malcolm?"

"He went on the offensive to shock me into talking," said Edrisa. Gil had warned her but Malcolm had deeply unseated her, all the same.

"He's not a literal mind reader," Gil assured Edrisa.

"It felt like it. I almost spilled the jelly beans," whispered Edrisa, staring listlessly at the back of the taxi driver's head.

"You didn't say a damn thing about his father's accomplice? Or his other memories?" Gil pushed.

"Negatory, Chief," Edrisa confirmed. She had covered her face as much as possible under Malcolm's scrutiny.

"Good, good. I appreciate your cooperation," Gil said. "We can't lose him to Dr. Whitly. Christ, I was ready to put down newspapers again."

"Put down newspapers? Like for a dog?" Edrisa asked.

"He was a lost puppy months after the Surgeon's arrest. Bit a couple folks," Gil mentioned.

He told her a couple more stories about young Malcolm; Edrisa laughed until she cried a little.

She had seen the worst of him and it made her all the more determined to do her best. With any luck, she wouldn't have to see her friend on the slab.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!


End file.
